Public school critics often point to rising expenditures and relatively flat test scores to justify their school reform agendas. The claims are flawed because their analyses fail to account for the difference in data types between dollars (ratio) and test scores (interval). A cost-benefit analysis using dollars as a common metric for both costs…

In this paper, the authors begin by classifying the arguments that assert American schools are relatively inefficient into two categories: the "long-term trend argument" and the "international comparison argument." Their focus herein is on the latter of these two. They then describe two frameworks for approaching either of…

Existing studies from the United States, Latin America and Asia provide scant evidence that private schools dramatically improve academic performance relative to public schools. Using data from Kenya--a poor country with weak public institutions--we find a large effect of private schooling on test scores, equivalent to one full standard deviation.…

In the literature of higher education cost function study, enough knowledge is created in the area of economy scale in the context of developed countries but the knowledge of input demand is lacking. On the other hand, empirical knowledge in the context of developing countries is very meagre. The paper fills up the knowledge gap, estimating a…

This report is the culmination of a yearlong effort to study the efficiency of the nation's public education system and includes the first-ever attempt to evaluate the productivity of almost every major school district in the country. In the business world, the notion of productivity describes the benefit received in exchange for effort or money…

Those with the burden of financing public education are looking toward product measurement for guidance in planning and modifying programs and in justifying expenditures to taxpayers. "Outcomes orientation" is rooted in program budgeting theory with emphasis on cost-benefit analysis and input-output relationships that can be demonstrated and…

Topics related to the identification and use of effectiveness indicators in the economic analysis of education are discussed. These topics include the relation between economic concepts and educational production; the economic concept of utility; and the nature and use of input, process, output, and outcome indicators. (TJH)

Five sister reports published by the Friedman Foundation over the past two years have ignored the relevant research literature in asserting that private-school voucher programs can reduce the social costs of dropping out while increasing graduation rates. The reports are state-specific, targeting five different states. But each report follows a…

Based on pupil-specific observation data drawn from a sample of 13 fifth-grade math classrooms, this article reports efforts to develop and test an economic model of the allocation of teacher resources within classrooms. Tables provide data on teacher attention and resources. (PB)

The second of two related pamphlets, this guide describes how to design an outcome study and outlines procedures for collecting outcome data. After an introduction that delineates the purpose of the two-part series, the pamphlet is divided into four major sections. The first section explains how to select a cost-outcome analysis. The next three…

Cost effectiveness of on-the-job training (OJT) can be determined by measures of effectiveness and by cost assessing the relationship between output and input. Defining effectiveness to be a measure of what an activity produces leaves two main groups of problems unresolved: hierarchies of effectiveness and multiple outcomes. The most significant…

Discusses and compares advantages and disadvantages of large and small computer-based instructional systems. Predicted and actual costs in two systems--PLATO, which uses a mainframe system, and VITAL, a microcomputer-based system--are analyzed, and cost comparisons are made based on class size. (LRW)

The relationship of fiscal effort to eighth-grade achievement on international assessments was compared among U.S. states, for U.S. states versus foreign countries, and for the United States versus foreign countries. U.S. performance was as expected, given its relative fiscal effort, and several states were as efficient as top-performing foreign…

This report explores some techniques that could assist educational managers in their attempts to arrive at more optimal input and output mixes. Following a review of the literature on input-output analyses in education and a description of the Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment Program (the basis of the present study), an empirical…

Data for an examination of budget analysis in continuing education were collected using personal interviews with the continuing program directors at four institutions. The institutions represented public and private, degree and nondegree continuing education programs. Despite practitioner-oriented data to draw upon, a literature review identified…